Elmer Dudik

Elmer Dudik, an environmental scientist with the North Coast
Water Quality Control Board died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2008 during a
camping trip in the Sierra Nevada Gold Lakes area. Dudik, 60,
suffered a fatal allergic reaction to a bee sting.
He worked on the agency’s timber harvest, site cleanup and
planning programs. At the time of his death, he was working on
water quality issues in the Klamath River system.
A native of Ohio, he moved to Petaluma with his family when he
was a teenager. After graduation from Petaluma High School, he
served in the Coast Guard as a diver.
For 16 years, he fished commercially out of Bodega Bay from his
boat, the Angelina G. He returned to Sonoma State to pursue a
master’s in biology, and in 1992, began work as an intern at the
water board that allowed him to professionally advocate for
environmental protection of California’s streams and rivers.
He was a founding member of the Sonoma County Mycological
Society and was a gourmet cook who loved gathering and preparing
wild mushrooms and catching fish from his kayak. He was also an
avid bird-watcher.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his mother, Sophie
Dudik, and brother, Peter Dudik, both of Petaluma; his daughters,
Genevieve Dudik and Deanna McKenzie, both of Santa Rosa; his
stepchildren, Greg Beeman of Los Angeles and Ashley Seyfried of
Chico; and his grandchildren, Ella and Harris Beeman and Nicholas
Seyfried.
Memorial services will be private.